Truck transportation jobs running at an 8-year low: BLS

There haven’t been this few workers in the truck transportation sector of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ employment data since the end of 2017. That doesn’t mean there might not have been fewer total workers in trucking at other times, because the monthly BLS data has holes in it, like independent owner operators.

But for the base number–employees in truck transportation–the March figure of 1,464,100 jobs, and the revised figures for January and February, put the industry at a level not seen in more than eight years. The March figure was down 800 jobs from a revised February figure. The February figure was a drop of 700 from a revised January number.

And January in turn was down 1,600 from the December figure of 1,467,200. The end result is that the three-month stretch of 1,465,600 January jobs, 1,464,900 February jobs and 1,464,100 March jobs were all less than the 1,466,200 jobs recorded in December 2017.

Every other month since then had been higher than that 2017 figure, until the figures recorded in the last three months. March truck transportation jobs are now 27,300 jobs less than they were a year ago. The peak employment number in the truck transportation sector was recorded in October 2022, when jobs totaled 1,588,600.

The level recorded in March is 124,500 jobs less than that. Aaron Terrazas, an independent economist with a background in trucking (formerly of Convoy), pointed to the numbers and their comparison to figures from years ago as a significant benchmark.

“The trucking sector continued to shed jobs, and the depths of the pandemic aside, trucking payrolls are now at their lowest level since late 2017—nearly a decade of job gains gone,” he said in an email to FreightWaves. Self-employed picture would be worse Terrazas noted that the BLS does not count every person working in trucking, like the self-employed.

“That substantial segment of the trucking industry has also been decimated after years of low freight rates and more recently spiking diesel prices,” Terrazas said. “Adding in those independent truckers, and the half-decade trend in trucking jobs looks worse than the payroll numbers suggest.”

Warehouse jobs, which have been volatile both up and down for many months, were relatively stable. The March total of 1,830,600 was down 900 jobs from February. February jobs in turn were revised down 3,200 jobs, while January jobs were revised down 2,000 jobs.

The end result of all the revisions is that March warehouse jobs were 200 jobs more than the final figure for January, but are down 50,200 jobs from where they stood a year ago. Terrazas spoke to the broader figures, which showed a surprisingly strong growth of 178,000 jobs.

“It has now been 11 consecutive months with see-sawing payrolls — one month up and one month down,” Terrazas said. “We have not seen more than a single consecutive month of definitive job gains or definitive job declines since May 2025.” He said there is an “underlying tension” in the U. S. economy affecting jobs data.

“Steady labor demand in frontline personal services and shaky foundations in the white collar economy, growth at small and mid-sized businesses and big businesses in turmoil,” Terrazas said. David Spencer, vice president of market intelligence at Arrive Logistics, also spoke directly to the truck transportation data in the report.

Falling employment while rates are rising “Several factors, including regulations and the increasing financial burden of sharply rising fuel prices, continue to weigh on carrier capacity,” he said in an email to FreightWaves.

“The downward trend in trucking employment, even as the broader transportation and warehousing sector posted overall gains, also supports the ongoing tightness and rate volatility seen over the past four months.” Higher freight rates are not immediately translating into new capacity being hired, Spencer added.

“Increased spot rates are helping, but after several years of little to no rate increases, adding or maintaining headcount remains difficult for many carriers.” Mazen Danaf, the principal economist at Uber Freight, contrasted the declining number of drivers with recent strong data on new tractor oders.

The higher order book, he said in an email to FreightWaves, “suggests increasing confidence that current market tightness will persist.” But the weak employment numbers undercut that. Danaf said that drop “is likely attributable to two primary drivers. First, the market continues to lose drivers due to tightening regulatory requirements.

Second, escalating fuel costs are squeezing smaller carriers. For these smaller carriers, rising diesel prices directly diminish profit margins. They often struggle to offset increased costs through spot rates and usually lack the necessary capital to cover the 30-to-60-day lag between purchasing fuel and receiving payment.”

In other highlights from the report: Average hourly earnings for non-supervisory employees inched up to $31. 94/hour in February. That data is on a on